


Pretty Bird

by nightlilly



Category: RWBY
Genre: Birds, Comedy, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, GET IT???, Gay Panic, Hijinks & Shenanigans, I'll see myself out, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Qrow is a bird, Qrow is a literal bird, Ruby and Yang are Wingwomen, Shapeshifting, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27166954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightlilly/pseuds/nightlilly
Summary: Sometimes Qrow's bird brain gets the better of him.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 148





	Pretty Bird

**Author's Note:**

> I'm surprised I haven't found more content about Qrow just...taking advantage of being able to turn into a bird, so I wrote this in like a day and a half.

Qrow was going to lose his goddamn mind.

It hadn't meant to end up like this, but of course, he was going to take the opportunity to stretch his wings, both figuratively and literally. Atlas was definitely not his favourite place to be, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't have an amazing view from the academy's many roofs and balconies. He was barred from the higher level rooftops, those saved for officials (re: suck-ups) with actual ranks and not visiting Huntsmen that were _on thin fucking ice,_ as Winter had put it.

Which was bullshit in his opinion. James knew him, knew his type of schtick. Would've been easier for him if he'd just given Qrow all-access, but honestly, then the kids would've bugged him about it, and then it was most likely that something that wasn't supposed to explode would explode and then they'd be banned from the city _for life -_ which would've both proved Winter right and made Penny sad, so no. Not doing that.

He could already picture the Ace-Ops laughing at him if that happened. Don't get him wrong, they were still the biggest bootlickers in all of Remnant, but they were good for conversation. On _occasion._ _Brief_ occasion. _Very brief_ occasion. Very brief occasion and only if _Clover was there._

Clover was the only one of them that Qrow could realistically handle. He was a genuinely nice person and one of the few people that hadn't given him any shit about his Semblance. He'd thought Clover would've gotten angry at him when he'd told him, but he'd been pleasantly surprised to find that the man had thought nothing of it.

Qrow didn't like it that the man beat him at cards though. Kinda unfair since their Semblances were quite literally setting Clover up to win and him to lose.

Had nothing to do with the fact that Clover winked at him each time he won and told him it was no luck and all skill and Qrow would start blushing. No. Definitely not that.

Okay. Fine. He was _slightly_ avoiding Clover. Okay, not _avoiding_. Taking some time to figure out _what the fuck he was supposed to do about this_ because Qrow was pretty sure the last time he'd seen the man he'd legitimately _squawked_ at him when Clover had told him he'd looked nice.

Yes, like the bird noise.

Yang had squirted milk out of her nose from laughing too hard at that and none of them were ever going to let him live it down. Clover had just chuckled and had made a remark about remembering not to sneak up on him next time.

So he was flying around now trying to get that out of his head because he was a veteran Huntsman. The infamous Qrow Branwen. And he _squawked when he was told he looked nice._ Not even _pretty_ or _handsome._ Just nice. Right now he was sitting on the railing on one of the higher balconies, debating if it was worth flying down to one of the other windows and ramming his head straight into one. Probably not - then he'd have to explain to the girls what happened and he'd rather not be laughed at for more Bird Brain Syndrome.

Not his fault that no one told him shapeshifters took on the traits of the things they changed into, but then again, he and Raven were the only shapeshifters he knew of. Maybe the only ones in existence, unless Oz had any more surprises for them.

Partway through that train of thought, he heard the door behind him slide open.

"Oh hey there little guy!"

Just his luck.

Panic too much and he was bound to either turn back into a human or just fly away. Option A seemed like a good way to spook Clover and then fall off the balcony, and if it were anyone else, that would've been a good way to give them a heart attack, but it was Clover, so no. Option B was favourable, but it felt as though he couldn't move, his heart racing. It felt like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have, and while he usually had no qualms about shit like that, he was panicking.

He really didn't need to give Clover any more reasons to think he was weird.

Clover slid into view just as Qrow managed to hop to the other side of the balcony. If he flew away right now, in the panicked state he was in, something bad would definitely happen, and chances were it was either gonna be to him or to Clover, neither of which was favourable.

So Qrow sat there, feathers bristling as he tried to calm himself down. His Semblance might have been passive, but like everyone else, his emotions made it a bitch to deal with.

"You're a bit too far up north, aren't you?" Clover asked as he moved closer, and Qrow wanted to fly away and just hope whatever he crashed into wouldn't kill him.

Clover kept talking to him as if he were a person, which was a bit laughable if he thought about it. "Not too many animals up here. Don't think I've ever seen a bird like you before. Are you a raven? Or a crow?"

He let out a caw in affirmation.

Clover chuckled, and Qrow took a slight hop forward, just to make sure he didn't run out of railing. "I have a friend named Qrow, but that's with a Q, and I guess there's a joke in there somewhere. He kinda eats like a bird sometimes. I think he's picky."

He would've taken offence to that if he weren't literally a bird.

Clover held out his hand. "You hungry?"

Qrow might've been a bird, and sometimes his wires got crossed and it made him do bird things, but the gods be damned if he ever stooped to doing something as low-brow as eating out of someone's - _was that a muffin?!_

He snatched the piece of food from the other's hand, retreating to his corner of the balcony. Okay, yeah, definitely no telling Clover about the bird thing. Lines have been crossed. Muffins were being eaten and-

The rest of his snack plummeted down below and he swooped to go catch it, but it was too late. It was gone.

If he were human, what would've come out of his mouth was a loud, well deserved _"FUCK!"_

But he wasn't, so the loudest, most ungodly sounding shriek did it justice.

Clover was laughing at his misfortune now, but only ripped off another piece of his own snack and passed it to him. "Here. I'm not that hungry anyway."

Qrow took the food again, this time hopping onto the arm of Clover's chair to avoid dropping this one over the edge. Fool him once...

What usually happened when his common sense decided to abandon him was that the bird part of his brain would override the human part, meaning that until he finished the task that had caught his attention.

In layman's terms, he wasn't bothered by being so close to Clover like this and wouldn't be until he was done eating the muffin.

Or at least, he wasn't bothered until Clover had started petting him because _of course he would._

"You're a pretty little thing." Qrow shuddered at the touch, once again trying to calm his heart. Pretty? _Pretty?_ Birds weren't pretty, they were birds! His head was starting to go a little fuzzy. Clover's hand was really warm and the petting actually felt really nice in the cold weather-

Stupid. Fucking. Birdbrain.

At least he was aware of himself now, and his feathers ruffled as he nuzzled into Clover's hand. This was getting dangerous.

"This what you do? Scam food out of people and then get pets? Not a bad life." Clover smiled and took his hand away and Qrow could've smacked himself for wanting to chase after him and practically beg for more.

Gods, that was a problem he didn't think he'd have to deal with. Well, better than being in denial, he guessed. He mentally cursed Ozpin for not picking a smarter animal than a fucking bird. _Corvids are smart -_ no they fucking weren't! He had experience being one, and he got a severe case of the stupid when he was like this.

Qrow moved back to the balcony so he wouldn't be tempted anymore, and Clover, unfortunately, followed him, watching him carefully. "You're oddly calm. You used to humans?"

He let out a soft cooing noise. That's it. If Clover found out about the bird thing he was just going to fly as fucking far away as he possibly could and hope the kids hadn't gotten him microchipped or something while he was taking a nap.

Diving head-first into a glass window seemed preferable at this point. Maybe the brain damage would give him amnesia.

He took off. This was getting a bit much, and he was flushed when he landed on his own balcony, taking deep breaths. That was a stupid idea, and he'd done plenty of stupid things in his life. That definitely made the list. Most likely in his top ten.

_How could he be so damn dumb and yet so aware of himself at the same time?!_

He'd spent the rest of the day holed up in his room, trying to get the picture of Clover's smile out of his head, and that was apparently the right choice because Yang had that look in her eye at breakfast the next morning and Nora was trying not to laugh at him.

Which meant a certain lucky someone squealed.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow." The blond was grinning from ear to ear as she presented to him what she was holding. "Want a muffin?"

Nora let out a loud snort. Ruby, gods bless her pure, innocent soul, only looked between her friends with confusion.

He took it from her, scowling. She was too much like her father. A little shit. "Yes, I do."

"Wow," a voice came from behind him, and he stiffened as another ( _warm_ ) body pressed next to him. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Heya Clover." Yang only smiled innocently. "Why don't you tell Uncle Qrow about that _cute_ bird you saw the other day? That might cheer him up."

Clover, the bastard, only smiled, seemingly unaware of the snickers and giggling going around the table.

"A bird, huh?" Qrow asked, deadpanning as he chose to lock eyes with his older niece, slowly eating his muffin. "Must've been exciting."

"Easy with the salt there, Country Boy. We don't see many animals up here."

"Yeah, Qrow," Yang said without breaking her gaze from his. "Must be pretty weird for birds to get up here. In the cold. Alone. Good thing Clover was there in case something bad happened."

Qrow shrugged, trying to ignore the fact that he could feel the heat rising to his ears.

Clover nodded, agreeing with her. "It looked a little thin, actually. I was surprised it ate some of the food I gave it. Pretty friendly - I was petting it for a bit. Not sure if it was a raven or a crow."

Ruby's eyes went wide. "Wait-"

Yang out her sister in a headlock giving her a noogie. "Hey, Ruby bet I can beat you down to the training hall!"

The two bolted out of the room without a second thought, their friends running after them, Jaune and Ren staying behind to clean up their mess, leaving Qrow to chuckle at their antics.

"They're a handful, aren't they?" Clover asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Qrow gave a small grunt in response, not sure if he could trust himself to give a full answer as he was trying to be mindful of the way he was eating.

"Hey, do you know how to tell the difference between a raven and a crow?"

He side-eyed him. "Legitimate question or a jab at my name?"

"I was going to say that _there's a crow sitting right next to me,_ " he laughed, and was it his imagination or was Clover's face pink? "But if you do know the answer I'll be glad to hear it."

"Crows are smaller," he muttered. Raven had used that tidbit often, but stopped once he became taller than her. "There's a few other differences like tail shape and stuff, but if you want to tell on sight, crows are about the size of pigeons while ravens are the size of hawks."

Clover nodded at that. "Guess it's a crow then."

Qrow looked away from him. "If you say so."

And despite how uncomfortable it was, how awkward it was, he went to go see Clover again, flying up to the balcony to wait.

"Oh, it's you again." Clover sounded absolutely delighted to see him. "Qrow told me you are actually a crow, so I guess you can understand the difference, seeing as that's what you told me. Well, not _told me_ told me."

He didn't panic as Clover started to brush his fingers against his feathers, but his breath still managed to hitch. Clover was just...a really nice person, and Qrow discovered something about himself since coming to Atlas.

When he was sober, and he was interested in someone, he was awkward. _Very awkward._ He could manage to be his usual, irritating, shit-disturber self, but with Clover.....

Ugh, he didn't want to sound sappy about the whole thing. Not many people could get him to be flustered like Clover could. It was embarrassing that he couldn't keep his composure not because of a horde of Grimm, not because of the temptation of a stiff drink, but because of one single, stupid man.

Clover was a good mission partner, a great person, and an even better friend. So if Qrow had to be an actual literal crow in order to manage not make himself look like a fool in front of the other, be it because of his Semblance or just him being dumb, then so be it.

And if he got some nice pets out of it, it wouldn't be so bad.

So the rest of his week was spent visiting Clover after missions, letting the man talk to him like a person (ha) and indulge him with the occasional snacks and pets.

He would take this to his grave if he had to, and if he had to suffer the remainder of his life at the verbal torment that was his nieces' teasing-

Well, that wasn't any different from normal.

Qrow stopped trying to ignore it when Yang would very pointedly ask Clover about _the bird_ in front of him, only making sure to shrug when she would lock eyes with him. This was the hill he would die on, and he wasn't going to budge about it.

"This is an intervention," Ruby had told him one day as he and Yang had cornered him in the hallway. "You need to tell Clover about the bird thing."

"I'd rather fling myself off the top of the highest tower in this goddamn city."

"You'd survive that - you have a good landing strategy," Yang pointed out, "or you could just fly away."

"What's the big deal about telling him?!" Ruby fumed, petals fluttering around her. "I mean, you were okay with telling us. What's the difference?!"

"One, you're my family and I love you," he said as he ruffled her hair. She pouted, but she was happy about it. "Two, it's for spy work. Can't be a spy if I _tell everyone._ "

"But it's not everyone," Yang argued, "it's just Clover. And you're literally killing all of us with this stupid bird drama."

She paused, then smirked. "You know, we have a betting pool going. Us and the Ace Ops."

"Yang!" Ruby hissed at her.

Qrow narrowed his eyes at her as he bristled. "Oh really? What for?"

"Which one of you has the balls to talk to each other first."

"About what?" He crossed his arms, his stomach churning. Did Clover figure it out somehow? "The bird thing?"

Yang just brushed past him, Ruby looking between the two of them.

"Just talk to Clover. _Please._ " She sighed as she went to follow her sister, then paused, reaching up to the back of his neck, producing a small black feather. "You might want to calm down a bit first."

He'd only flushed, letting out a weak noise that was _definitely not another squawk._

Qrow thought about it, pacing around his room later that day. He'd been shedding a few more feathers since then, nervous and worried because there was no way that Clover would take any of this well.

 _Hey you know that bird you've been talking to lately? Well, funny story_ _..._

No. He shouldn't tell him. Or at least, he should stop letting his bird brain get the better of him and stop visiting for a while. _Then_ tell him.

And that's what he'd planned to do. _Planned_ being the operative word here as he figured one last time wouldn't hurt anyone. Clover would assume the bird had moved on to other things, and he would be none the wiser and one day they would look back on it and laugh after Qrow finished repeatedly dying of embarrassment.

Clover was on the balcony, as usual, but he looked tired, strained. If Qrow didn't know any better, he looked similar to when he'd been pacing back and forth just hours before, debating on what to do.

"Hey little guy." He sounded exhausted, leaning over the balcony as a hand went out to Qrow, brushing his feathers gently.

Qrow melted into it. Last time he'd get to do this, he'd better make it count. Though if he were being honest with himself, he could ask Ruby to do the same thing. Yang would humiliate him for it, but bird pets were nice dammit.

Clover let out a sigh. "Mind if I talk to you?"

Qrow let out a happy trill in reply, rubbing his head against Clover's hand.

"I've been thinking," he muttered. "It's not weird to ask out a co-worker, right? I mean, we're close, but I think he gets nervous around me and I don't know why."

If he were being honest, he was only half paying attention, distracted by the way Clover was scratching at the feathers behind his neck.

"I've tried being friendly to him, and I think we're friends, but he still seems...jumpy, I guess? Qrow was always a bit weird but it's just a part of his personality."

Oh, he was talking about him?

"It's kind of cute actually."

Wait. What?!

This time, he would admit, he let out a squawk. A very loud one.

"Glad to know you don't approve of my taste in men," Clover muttered as Qrow's mind started racing. Cute? Him? _Cute?!_ He'd understand the bird because Clover had already taken a liking to him like this, but _him? As a person? Cute?_ "He blushes easily too. Real easy to tease."

Gods. Fucking. Dammit.

"And he's such a good Huntsman," Clover went on. "I...admire him. I think he might take it the wrong way if I ask him out. I don't think he knows how to deal with people other than his family."

Way to hit the nail on the head, huh. Qrow was really glad birds couldn't blush. He was sure his feathers would've turned entirely red.

Wait. He really shouldn't have been hearing this - he needed to leave. Clover was baring his heart to him and he thought that he was _just a bird._ This was crossing so many lines that Qrow might as well have been walking on graph paper.

So he flew, trying not to think about what Clover said and trying not to think about how he felt on the matter.

The second he got back to his room, he flopped down onto his bed and then screamed into his pillow. He ignored it the next morning when he woke up surrounded by a mess of black feathers, and ignored the expectant looks from his nieces, tried to ignore the way he noticed Clover looking at him as if he wanted to say something.

It took several more hours of pacing before he decided that he needed advice on the matter.

Qrow had gotten into the habit of going in through windows when he wanted to talk to someone - as long as they knew about his ability, of course. James was one of those few privileged people and because of it, he'd gotten into his own habit of leaving a window open for Qrow in case they needed to talk about more private matters.

This late at night, no one would bother them.

Or so he'd thought, gunning straight for the window of James' office and leaving behind another flurry of feathers as he changed back, erratically breathing.

"I fucked up Jimmy."

"Qrow-" The general was looking at him with wide eyes.

"I fucked up big time!"

"Qrow-"

He began to pace. "I swear to gods it wasn't my fault-"

"Qrow!"

"What?! I'm in the middle of-" He followed to where his friend was pointing, finding Clover, staring at him open-mouthed with an emotion he couldn't quite identify written all over his face.

"Y-you-" He sputtered. "What? You- But- _Since when are you a bird?!"_

"Uhhhhh." _Brothers, kill me now._ "I just remembered I have to go....do a thing. Away from here. Yeah. Bye!"

He'd left the way he'd come in, making a note to himself to apologize to James for the feathers and to then find a way where he could move to Vacuo and change his name. Or maybe he could just live out the rest of his life as a bird in the middle of the woods. Maybe he could get Raven to kill him. Yeah, that would work.

His Semblance had broken two lights in his room, made the shower spring a leak when it wasn't even running, and had cracked the wall. He couldn't look at it, resigning himself to escape to the balcony, sitting - in human form - on the railing, his legs dangling off the side.

"Room for one more?"

If it hadn't been for Clover grabbing his arm, he would have legitimately fallen off of the balcony.

Of course his Semblance would also break the lock on his door.

"Thanks," he murmured, turning his head away as Clover swung his legs over the railing to sit beside him. "I can't guarantee I'd be able to catch you if you fall, though."

Clover laughed, and Qrow sunk into himself.

"When you said your name was Qrow, I didn't think you meant it literally."

He could only make a noise in reply.

"Do you always make it a habit to steal other people's muffins?"

It took him a moment. Clover wasn't mad. In fact, he was _teasing him._

"Can you please not?" He groaned, putting his head in his hands. "I get enough of it from my nieces I really don't need from anyone else."

"Okay, but just so you know there are plenty of muffins in the cafeteria."

"Stop, or I _will_ jump."

"Before today, I would've taken that threat seriously. So other than stealing my food, what were you doing on my balcony?"

Qrow took a deep breath, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Would you believe me if I said I didn't know it was _your_ balcony?"

"That excuse only works once."

He let out another groan that turned in cawing halfway through, letting out a string of curse words.

"Are you...are you swearing in bird noises?"

He cooed in response, crossing his arms as his face flushed, Clover letting out a snort.

"You're ridiculous." He slid a bit closer and Qrow felt like he was going to spontaneously combust. "Can you do me a favour and use your words?"

"Can you promise not to make fun of me?"

Clover's fingers laced into his. "Can _you_ not make fun of _me?_ "

"For what? Having feelings?" He sighed. "Cloves, I know I wasn't meant to hear that, and I'm sorry. I wasn't...spying on you I just....wanted to spend time with you."

"And you couldn't have just asked me?"

Qrow bit his lip. "At Beacon, I had three friends. They were all on the same team as me and one of them was my twin sister. Ozpin doesn't count. Jimmy doesn't either. I don't know how to talk to people sober without sounding like an idiot and you make it so much worse for me."

"Worse?"

He nodded. "You're a good person. Not a lot of those around these days and definitely not ones that want to spend time around me."

" _I_ like you."

"And you're biased."

"So," Clover gave his hand a squeeze, making him tense up. "Let me get this straight. You turned into a bird - which is apparently a thing you can do and James knew about it - to spend time with me because you don't know how to talk to people?"

"Well when you put it like that, it sounds stupid." He was chuckling now. He wasn't happy about the situation, but this was a lot better than what he'd imagined would have happened.

"And everything else?"

"What do you mean?"

Clover's free hand went up to play with his hair and _oh that was not good for his heart._ He guiltily leaned into the touch, and dammit he was getting too comfortable with this.

"Mmmm, do you know your ears turn pink when you're blushing?"

"Yes," he said curtly, resisting the urge to put his hands over his ears so Clove would leave him alone. "Ugh, fine! When I'm a bird I get distracted easily. I literally have a bird brain. I get distracted by food and shiny objects and people petting me - _stop laughing!_ "

Clover laughing only made him turn a deeper shade of red, as he very much liked the noise. It was stupid, full of snorting and heavy breaths and he was just so _breathtaking._

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He took a moment to catch his breath, pulling his hand out of his hair, and Qrow looked at him in amazement. He wasn't even mad. "I started wondering if playing with your feathers would translate over. I couldn't help myself. And then I started thinking about just...you, but chasing a laser pointer. You know, like they do for cats?"

"If we weren't sitting on the railing I'd push you right now. And that's not what I meant by shiny things and you know it!"

"Is that why you wear so much jewellery?"

He gave a nod in reply, watching Clover's face. "I don't really have control over when it happens while I'm a bird. I get distracted by the dumbest shit. Flew into a few windows too. The kids like to make fun of me for it."

"They know? So all those questions they were asking-"

"Yup."

"Man, you put up with _a lot_ of shit."

"Yup."

They were both silent for a moment, watching the city bustling below them, starting to slow down as curfew drew nearer.

"Qrow. About what I said - you don't.....I-I wasn't-"

He stopped rambling when Qrow brought a hand to his face. They both stared, not sure how long had passed between them.

"Lucky Charm, breathe."

Clover exhaled sharply, and Qrow didn't expect him to move but next thing he knew Clover's lips were against his own and he was trying his damnedest to keep them from both plunging to their deaths. The railing was not the best place to do this.

"I'm sorry," Clover mumbled as he broke away. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's-" Qrow let out a strangled noise that he couldn't figure out if it was bird or human. "It's fine. Totally fine. Completely, one-hundred percent fine."

"You don't have to lie to me to make me feel better, you know."

"I wasn't," he half-wheezed. "I'm not. I was just very unprepared. Yes, by the way."

"Yes what?"

"I'll go out with you if you're still interested after hearing about me and my stupid bird brain."

"Oh! I, um, yes. Of course."

It was Qrow's turn to laugh. "That didn't sound too enthusiastic."

"I honestly didn't think I'd get this far."

\----

Yang was literally going to kill him. Her eye was twitching furiously as she watched Clover, a crow perched on his shoulder. And not just any crow.

He seemed to notice her first, Nora's not-so-quiet _are you kidding me?_ ignored. "Oh hey Yang. You remember that bird that keeps coming to my balcony? It flew into my window this morning and I thought I'd take it inside until it got its head straight."

The rest of the Ace Ops seemed very interested in offering the bird food, all of them not quite familiar with the wildlife from other kingdoms, either not noticing or not caring that Yang looked as if she was about to pop a blood vessel.

"Yang?" Her sister gently tugged on her sleeve.

"That's it! I'm going to tell him!"

"Finally!" Nora screeched, throwing her hands in the air.

The bird - no, not the bird, _Qrow_ \- had hopped off of Clover's shoulder and now onto the table where the three teams were all clustered together, various plates of food being passed around. When Yang got to the side of the table the Ace Ops were sitting at, she levelled her uncle with a glare.

The bird only cocked its head to the side.

"I think it likes you, Yang," Clover chuckled, unaware. "You good with birds?"

"That's not a bird!" She said, much too loudly, but she didn't care. This stupidity had gone on long enough.

Harriet shook her head. "Listen kiddo, just because there isn't much up this far north doesn't mean we're stupid-"

"No, I mean that's literally not a bird!" She waved her arms at it. "That's my uncle!"

The Ace Ops just stared at her.

"Yang," Clover said slowly. "Are you getting enough sleep? Do you need a day off?"

"No, are you crazy?!"

"You're the one insisting your uncle is a bird," Elm piped up, Vine nodding in agreement. "Isn't his Semblance bad luck or something? That's why he's paired with Clover?"

"It's complicated," Yang said, turning her attention back to the bird. "Uncle Qrow, please just tell them. This is getting ridiculous."

The bird only let out a caw of indifference.

_"Oh come on!"_

"Yang," Clover tried again.

"I swear I'm not making up. He just doesn't want to turn back because he's embarrassed."

Ruby came up beside her. "Uh, Yang, maybe we shouldn't-"

"I'm sick of watching these two idiots dance around each other!" She turned to the other teenagers at the table. "Guys, help me out. Qrow told us all about the bird thing. Back me up."

"I'm staying out of this," Ren muttered, and Jaune nodded in agreement. The rest of them were too busy picking at their breakfasts or half asleep.

"Please Uncle Qrow," she tried again. "Don't you think this is stupid?"

The bird simply stared back.

 _"That's it! I've had it!"_ Her eyes flared red and the bird just barely had time to move before she flung herself forward, the table snapping under the force of her fists.

The bird flew in a circle, once, twice, before flying next to Clover, a black mass forming around it before it was engulfed, Qrow leaning against the Ace Ops leader's shoulder.

"Pay up, I told you she'd break the table."

Clover sighed as he fished his wallet out of his pocket. "And you're probably going to be using that money to pay for that table."

"Worth it."

"Well shit," Harriet just stared at him. "He really was a bird."

Yang looked back and forth between the two of them, mouth agape, eyes flaring red again.

"You two are _the worst!_ "


End file.
